World

GENEVA (April 18, 2024) – UN experts* today expressed grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip, raising serious alarm over the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system. “With more than 80% of schools in Gaza damaged or destroyed, it may be reasonable to ask […]

April 17, 2024 – Today’s pre-electoral publication reveals a positive, upward trend on key election indicators with just a few weeks to go until EU citizens cast their ballots 6-9 June. Interest in the election, awareness of when it will take place as well as likelihood to vote are all on the rise since the […]

GENEVA (16 April 2024) – Retaliatory military attacks between Israel and Iran violate the right to life and must cease immediately, UN experts said today. Allegedly to counter foreign state support for “terrorism”, Israel attacked an Iranian consulate building in Syria on 1 April 2024, killing two Iranian generals, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General […]

The Security Council prepared to convene on Monday to consider a Palestinian request for United Nations membership as humanitarians expressed deep concerns about Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah and the desperate lack of aid reaching Gaza. At the same time, a full six months since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel prompted an unprecedented Israeli military […]

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency reiterated that attacks against nuclear power plants in Ukraine are “an absolute no go”, following direct military action targeting the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on Sunday. Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the targeting marked a “major escalation” in the level […]

The killing of seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen in Israeli military airstrikes in central Gaza has been strongly condemned by senior UN humanitarian officials who on Tuesday reiterated repeated concerns that “there is no safe space left in Gaza”. “This is not an isolated incident,” said Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator […]

Geneva/Berlin, March 26, 2024 – As the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project marks its ten-year milestone, a new report reveals alarming trends in migrant deaths and disappearances over the past decade.    More than one-third of deceased migrants whose country of origin could be identified come from countries in conflict or with large […]

Intense hostilities in Gaza continued on Tuesday between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces with a “double-digit number of children killed overnight” and ongoing aid delivery obstacles that are responsible for near-famine conditions, UN humanitarians said. The continuing violence came despite an immediate ceasefire call for the remainder of Ramadan from the Security Council on Monday, prompting urgent appeals from UN aid […]

The UN Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and “the urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza. There were 14 votes in favour with the United States abstaining. 12:15 PM This is a first step: Yemen The Representative […]

GENEVA (21 March 2024) – With children in North Gaza facing imminent famine and others across the Gaza Strip in danger of catastrophic food insecurity, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child today issued the following statement, repeating its call for an immediate ceasefire. “Children in Gaza are starving to death. They are […]

GENEVA (20 March 2024) – The Russian Federation has created a stifling climate of fear in occupied areas of Ukraine, committing widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in an effort to consolidate its control over the population living there, according to a UN Human Rights Office report issued today. The report, based […]

Amid growing global concerns over alarming hunger spikes in conflict-affected communities and talk of intensifying levels of food insecurity possibly leading to famine, we looked into how – and when – a famine is classified. With the release of the latest food security report from the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) on war-ravaged Gaza since December, World Food Programme (WFP) […]

NEW YORK, MARCH 15, 2024 –31 per cent – or 1 in 3 children under 2 years of age – in the Northern Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, a staggering escalation from 15.6 per cent in January. Malnutrition among children is spreading fast and reaching devastating and unprecedented levels in the Gaza Strip due to […]

Women’s rights are under attack, and governments must act to reverse that dangerous trend, the UN chief told a his annual town hall event with civil society activists on Wednesday, as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) session continued its first week, with a host of side events highlighting deteriorating conditions around the […]

Amid reports of fresh Israeli airstrikes in Gaza overnight into Wednesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that more children have been killed there in recent months than in four years of conflict worldwide.  “This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe […]

GENEVA (7 March 2024) – UN human rights experts* today urged the international community to increase pressure on the parties to the conflict to end grave crimes and fully comply with international law. Five months after the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas and other armed groups, and the Israeli military response which followed, […]

March 5, 2024 – A rare opportunity to deliver desperately needed supplies to hospitals in northern Gaza for the first time in months has been welcomed by UN humanitarians who on Tuesday issued a fresh alert about “appalling” conditions in medical facilities where more children risk are battling life-threatening malnutrition. “WHO and partners managed to access […]

The “carnage” in Gaza has left more than 30,000 dead and must end immediately, UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday, after almost five months of constant Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the enclave, prompted by Hamas-led attacks.  “The war in Gaza must end,” Mr. Türk said, insisting that it was “well past […]

GENEVA (22 February 2024) – The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has exacted a horrific human cost, inflicting immense suffering on millions of civilians, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on Thursday. “Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, […]

The Security Council met on Thursday at UN Headquarters in New York on the situation in the Gaza Strip, wracked by months of unrelenting war and tensions spilling into the wider Middle East region, with no solutions on the horizon to stop the fighting. Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, […]